In 1937 Ernest Hemingway slapped critic Max Eastman and knocked him down. The story of the slap is here: https://www.nytimes.com/books/99/07/04/specials/hemingway-slaps.html
Hemingway was mad because in 1933 Eastman wrote what I think was a personal attack on Hemingway. Eastman’s article is here: https://newrepublic.com/article/118939/story-why-hemingway-slapped-critic-face
If you’ve read many of his books and studied what Hemingway believed and what he loved, you would know just how personal Eastman was in his piece. He knew what he was doing, and Hemingway gave it to him.
Almost one hundred years later, getting slapped by Hemingway is the only thing Eastman is remembered for. Though he was famous during his life. Wikipedia here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Eastman As a serious fan of Hemingway’s writing, including his descriptions of bullfighting, I didn’t like Eastman’s article at all, though I could never watch anything like a bullfight.
What I loved about Hemingway’s descriptions of the ring were the romantic ideals of courage and bravery of the bullfighters. When I traveled through southern France I came across a little cafe in Arles. It was more Spanish than French, and it had large open doors.
When I went in, I saw that the walls were covered with pictures of bullfighting, but from just one family. There were pictures of young boys, 7 or 8 years old, with capes playing bullfighter with calves. And there were pictures of several men of varying ages in rings fighting.
The owner came out to greet us. He was maybe forty years old, thick in the middle from eating too much, but still very handsome. He had a thick black head of hair and sharp eyes. He looked very much like the bullfighters Hemingway described.
He said he was retired from the ring, and he was a fifth generation in his family to fight bulls. Some of the pictures on the wall of the child fighting a calf were of him, one his father, two of his sons.
I was dizzy I was so excited to meet the type of man Hemingway wrote so much about, and that the retired fighter fit so well within the writers descriptions. He was a gracious host and we stayed and ate.
Like most writers, I’m a reader as well. I’ve read all of Hemingway’s books, a few several times. It was a truly life marking moment to meet this man-a character in so many Hemingway’s books. At that moment, I wouldn’t have tolerated Eastman’s article either.
By the way, my new book cover is coming out May 13, and you can read about it here http://www.russelllittleauthor.com/may-13-murder-for-me-cover-will-be-revealed/
We’re very excited about it, and I hope you’ll let me know what you think. Another description of the cover is here http://www.russelllittleauthor.com/murder-for-me/